Various adhesive tapes and adhesive bandages have widely been used as surgical dressings. If a tape uses a nonporous film as a support, the moisture from the skin is prevented from evaporating through the support to cause a hot and uncomfortable feel and creates a rash or irritation. Therefore the support of these surgical dressings, particularly adhesive bandages, usually has pores for air passage so as not to interfere with cutaneous respiration, by which to alleviate discomfort and a rash. However, use of a porous support is not enough to prevent discomfort and a rash. Another problem to consider is that the dressing as stuck to the skin tends to be peeled or lifted from the skin owing to failure to follow the extension and contraction of a joint, etc. If a dressing fails to follow the movement of the skin, water or dust unavoidably gets in through the gaps at edges of the tape or through the pores of the support. It follows that if the support of the dressing or an absorbent pad of an adhesive bandage remains wet, an uncomfortable feel, a rash, an eruption, itching, and the like gradually occurs.
Because the surgical dressing is to be applied to the skin, development of the dressing requires consideration of non-irritation to the skin and flexibility to follow the movement o f the skin.
JP-A-U-6-13821 (the term "JP-A-U" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese utility model application) provides a tape for medical use in which a synthetic resin film having flexibility and moderate water vapor permeability is used as a support so as to make the tape follow the movement of the body, prevent tightening up of the tape as applied to the skin, and give a comfortable feel (as applied) to the wearer.
JP-B-U-6-47456 (the term "JP-B-U" as used herein means an examined published Japanese utility model application) discloses an adhesive bandage comprising a support made of stretchable nonwoven fabric for application over a relatively large wound at bending sites of the body, such as elbows and knees.
However, the tape of JP-A-U-6-13821 is unsatisfactory in applicability and adhesion to the skin, especially to a part of the body having a special shape, such as the tip of a finger or a joint, on account of the relatively high tensile strength of its support (load at 50% extension: 200 to 900 g/15 mm). That is, the synthetic resin film support is not deemed to achieve deformability in conformity to the special contour of a site of application, such as the tip of a finger or a joint, to provide intimate adhesion making no gaps.
The nonwoven fabric used in JP-B-U-6-47456 has no water repellency and will easily allow water to soak into when used in contact with water. It is likely, as stated above, that discomfort and such symptoms as a rash, an eruption, and itching may result.
The JP-A-U-6-13821 reference refers to polyethylene, polypropylene, polybutene, polystyrene, etc. as examples of the synthetic resin constituting the support. It is specified that the synthetic resin film support has a load of at least 200 g/15 mm at 50% extension to secure sufficient nerve (i.e., bending stiffness) for application to the skin. However, a tape having a load at 50% extension of 200 g/15 mm or more is deflected when it is wound around, for example, a finger to make a gap only to provide poor adhesion to the skin. Further, such a tape as applied hardly follows the movement of the site of application, e.g., a joint. Therefore, the tape has unsatisfactory windability around such a part of the body as a special contour, for example, the tip of a finger or a joint. That is, the proposed synthetic resin film support is not deemed to achieve the object that the tape be wound around an affected part of the body with intimate adhesion and no gap. If the load of the synthetic resin film support at 50% extension is below 200 g/15 mm, the tape would be wound around in an arbitrary manner while being stretched. However, as long as the synthetic resin film disclosed in JP-A-U-6-13821 is used, the tape would have insufficient bending stiffness and be difficult to stick to the skin.